Stephen King - Song of Susannah

PRAISE FOR STEPHEN KINGS

SONG OF SUSANNAH
THE DARK TOWER VI

The Dark Tower series is Kings masterpiece.

The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville)

Equal parts Western, high fantasy, horror, and science fiction, the series is one of the wildest pastiches ever put between covers. All through the series there are references and tips of the hat to iconic works of pop culture, including J.R.R. Tolkiens Lord of the Rings trilogy, films like The Seven Samurai or the spaghetti Westerns popularized by Clint Eastwood, and even L. Frank Baums Oz books.... King brilliantly juggles all the plot elements.

The Denver Post

The suspense master takes readers right over the edge.

Bangor Daily News

An archetypal quest fantasy distinguished by its uniquely Western flavor, its emotional complexity and its sheer imaginative reach... brilliantly rendered... King holds it all together through sheer narrative muscle and his absolute commitment to his slowly unfoldingand deeply personalvision.

The Washington Post

Hes done it again.... Stephen King is no ordinary wordsmith.

Philadelphia Inquirer

The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah is also available from Simon & Schuster Audio.

Well-crafted, nuanced stories.

The Washington Post

Bear[s] the King trademark of creative energy and imagination.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch

[King is] a modern-day counterpart to Twain, Hawthorne, Dickens.... No one does it better.

Publishers Weekly

DREAMCATCHER

A vigorously told, increasingly trippy story [written] with imaginative gusto.... King writes more fluently than ever... with simple, unexpected grace.

The New York Times

A tour de force... [with] more passages of power and imagination than some writers produce in a lifetime... thrilling and spectacular.... [An] entertaining must-read.

Chicago Tribune

May be the best alien invasion story since Wellss The War of the Worlds .

Booklist

HEARTS IN ATLANTIS

This is wonderful fiction.... [Kings] take on the 60sincluding the effects of Vietnamis scarily accurate.

Entertainment Weekly

Provocative.... [King] looks deep into the dark side of human nature.

People

A spellbinding piece of literature.

Library Journal

BE SURE TO READ THESE BESTSELLERS BY STEPHEN KING

FROM A BUICK 8

Kings still on fire when it comes to creating breathing characters and evocative settings.

Entertainment Weekly

Stylistically assured, effortlessly suspenseful, with characters as well rounded as almost any literary novel can offer.... Spooky stuff.

Los Angeles Times

Great writers exorcise their demons on the page, and theres no better exorcist at work today than Stephen King.... Enjoy the ride.

Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)

Vintage King.... [He] knows how to jolt his readers.

USA Today

Terrific entertainment.... Goes down like a shot of moonshine, hot and clean.

Publishers Weekly

[King] still loves telling stories, knows every trick... and continues to redefine his definition of horror.

The New York Times

EVERYTHINGS EVENTUAL

Unpredictable. Full of surprises.... You can tell this book by its cover.

The New York Times

Compelling.... Brilliantly creepy.

USA Today

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For Tabby, who knew when it was done

Go, then. There are other worlds than these.

John Jake Chambers

I am a maid of constant sorrow

Ive seen trouble all my days

All through the world Im bound to ramble

I have no friends to show my way...

Traditional

Fair is whatever God wants to do.

Leif Enger
Peace Like a River

How long will the magic stay?

At first no one answered Rolands question, and so he asked it again, this time looking across the living room of the rectory to where Henchick of the Manni sat with Cantab, who had married one of Henchicks numerous granddaughters. The two men were holding hands, as was the Manni way. The older man had lost a granddaughter that day, but if he grieved, the emotion did not show on his stony, composed face.

Next to Roland, holding no ones hand, silent and dreadfully white, sat Eddie Dean. Beside him, cross-legged on the floor, was Jake Chambers. He had pulled Oy into his lap, a thing Roland had never seen before and would not have believed the billy-bumbler would allow. Both Eddie and Jake were splattered with blood. That on Jakes shirt belonged to his friend Benny Slightman. That on Eddies belonged to Margaret Eisenhart, once Margaret of Redpath, the lost granddaughter of the old patriarch. Both Eddie and Jake looked as tired as Roland felt, but he was quite sure there would be no rest for them this night. Distant, from town, came the sounds of fireworks and singing and celebration.

There was no celebration here. Benny and Margaret were dead, and Susannah was gone.

Henchick, tell me, I beg: how long will the magic stay?

The old man stroked his beard in a distracted fashion. Gunslinger Roland I cant say. The magic of the door in that cave is beyond me. As thee must know.

Tell me what you think. Based on what you do know.

Eddie raised his hands. They were dirty, there was blood under the nails, and they trembled. Tell, Henchick, he said, speaking in a voice, humble and lost, that Roland had never heard before. Tell, I beg.

Rosalita, Pere Callahans woman of all work, came in with a tray. There were cups on it, and a carafe of steaming coffee. She, at least, had found time to change out of her bloody, dusty jeans and shirt and into a housedress, but her eyes were still shocked. They peered from her face like small animals from their burrows. She poured the coffee and passed the cups without speaking. Nor had she gotten all the blood, Roland saw as he took one of the cups. There was a streak of it on the back of her right hand. Margarets or Bennys? He didnt know. Or much care. The Wolves had been defeated. They might or might not come again to Calla Bryn Sturgis. That was kas business. Theirs was Susannah Dean, who had disappeared in the aftermath, taking Black Thirteen with her.

Henchick said: Ye ask of kaven?

Aye, father, Roland agreed. The persistence of magic.

Father Callahan took a cup of coffee with a nod and a distracted smile, but no word of thanks. He had spoken little since theyd come back from the cave. In his lap was a book called Salems Lot, by a man of whom he had never heard. It purported to be a work of fiction, but he, Donald Callahan, was in it. He had lived in the town of which it told, had taken part in the events it recounted. He had looked on the back and on the rear flap for the authors photograph, queerly certain that he would see a version of his own face looking back at him (the way hed looked in 1975, when these events had taken place, most likely), but there had been no picture, just a note about the books writer that told very little. He lived in the state of Maine. He was married. Hed written one previous book, quite well reviewed, if you believed the quotations on the back.